Alumni

Former PhD Student (from 33rd cycle)

Aldo Di Vito

Aldo Di Vito

Cycle 36th

SupervisorProf.ssa Patrizia Hrelia

PhD project: Evaluation of new therapeutic strategies in cellular models of Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)

Alessandro Andreani

Alessandro Andreani

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Marco De Vivo 

Co-supervisor UniBo: Maria Laura Bolognesi

PhD Project: RNA targeting with small molecules. It will be focused on the design, and mainly synthesis of small molecules capable of selectively targeting RNA.

Marco Fabbrini

Marco Fabbrini

Cycle 36th 

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Patrizia Brigidi

 PhD Thesis: Profiling compositional and functional structures of the microbiome from faecal samples of COVID-19 patients by NGS approaches - ORCHESTRA EU H2020 project

Laura Poppi

Laura Poppi

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Marinella Roberti

Co-supervisor: Dott.ssa Marcella Manerba

PhD project: “RAD51/BRCA2 disruption: identification of novel small molecule disruptors and molecular insights”

Nicola Rizzardi

Nicola Rizzardi

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Romana Fato

PhD project: Study on bioenergetics impairments induced by inhibition of CoQ10 biosynthesis.

Elisa Corazza

Elisa Corazza

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Barbara Luppi

PhD Project title: Innovative strategies to improve nasal drug delivery

Marta Nugnes

Marta Nugnes

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Manuela Bartolini

PhD Project Title: Assessment of albumin dysfunction in diabetic patients with kidney disease by SPR.

 

Francesca Rossi

Francesca Rossi

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof.Stefano Iotti and Prof. Emil Malucelli

PhD Project title: "Bone biomineralization: a multimodal in/ex vivo study through Synchrotron-Based X-rays and NMR techniques"

Federica Veneziani

Federica Veneziani

Cycle 36th

Supervisor: Prof. Andrea Cavalli

PhD Project: The study aims to validate in a pre-clinical setting a novel antipsychotic drug proposed as an innovative approach for the treatment of Bipolar Disease and Schizoaffective Disorder. Moreover, using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology for the DNA editing, the project investigates in a murine model the main side effects of the available antipsychotic drugs to identify suitable druggable targets.

Sonia Bortolotti

Sonia Bortolotti

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Roberto Tonelli

PhD Thesis: Pre-clinical evaluation of MYCN selective inhibitor efficacy in adult Small-cell lung cancer.

Cecilia Del Prete

Cecilia Del Prete

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Prof. Marco Caprini

PhD Thesis: Molecular and functional study of neuropathic pain at gastrointestinal level in a murine model of Fabry Disease

 

Stefania Demuro

Stefania Demuro

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Prof. Andrea Cavalli

PhD thesis: Design and synthesis of first-in-class multi-target triple protein kinase inhibitors with CNS application.

Silvia Granata

Silvia Granata

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Prof. Moreno Paolini

PhD Thesis: Toxicological effects related to the use of new ENDS in an in vivo model

 

Matteo Manfredi

Matteo Manfredi

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Prof. Pier Luigi Martelli

PhD Project: Knowing the interaction sites of a protein is a key aspect of functional annotation and biomedical research. Interactomics is the field of study that focuses on discovering them, however nowadays we require accurate and automated pipelines. Our main focus will be the generation of computational methods that can infer the probability that a lateral side chain is part of an interaction site, starting from the sequence of the protein. For this purpose, we will use deep-learning approaches, exploiting known correlated features of the amino acids like the Accessible Surface Area and the Secondary Structure.

Giambattista Marotta

Giambattista Marotta

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Prof. Anna Minarini

PhD thesis: design and synthesis of new small molecules for neuroinflammation treatment.

Giacomo Marziali

Giacomo Marziali

Cycle 35th

Supervisor : Prof.ssa Natalia Calonghi

PhD Project "Identification of interactions between Chlamydia trachomatis and host cells"

Michela Nigro

Michela Nigro

Cycle 35th

Supervisor: Marco De Vivo

PhD Project: Characterization of function and inhibition of DNA Polymerase-ŋ in cancer.

Francesco Rinaldi

Francesco Rinaldi

35th Cycle

Supervisor : Andrea Cavalli

Project Title :  Innovative approaches to overcome drug-resistance in cancer

Alessandra Salerno

Alessandra Salerno

Cycle 35th 

Supervisor: Maria Laura Bolognesi

PhD Thesis: New chemical modalities for leishmaniasis drug discovery

Claudia Albertini

Claudia Albertini

 Cycle 34th 

Supervisor: Maria Laura Bolognesi

PhD project: "Polypharmacology by design: development of new conjugates for neurodegenerative diseases"

 

Beatrice Balboni

Beatrice Balboni

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Prof. Andrea Cavalli

Co-Supervisor : Stefania Girotto

PhD Project: Biophysical approaches to characterize drug discovery related target

Assegnista di ricerca presso IIT - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

Irene Brusa

Cycle 34th

 

Chiara Cabrelle

Chiara Cabrelle

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Maurizio Recanatini

PhD Project: Set up of a machine learning platform for applications in systems pharmacology

Master’s degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies (University of Padova, 2017). The PhD project is focused on building predictive models from multi-dimensional datasets using machine learning methods. The application field is systems pharmacology with the aim of translating data into therapeutic knowledge.

Silvia Lampis

Cycle 34th

Giovanni Madeo

Giovanni Madeo

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Prof. Pier Luigi Martelli

PhD Thesis: Machine Learning Tools for Protein Annotation: the cases of transmembrane β-barrel and myristoylated proteins

Camilla Marasca

Camilla Marasca

Cycle 34th

Supervisors: Andrea Cavalli / Laura Mercolini

External supervisor: Andrea Armirotti

PhD Project: Development and validation of advanced bioanalytical strategies with high degree of miniaturisation and automation

The PhD project is focused on the development of original analytical strategies based on the coupling between innovative miniaturised approaches and advanced mass spectrometric methods. All the steps of the methodology are fully validated as required by international guidelines.

Federico Munafò

Federico Munafò

Cycle 34th

PhD Project : Targeting Polymerase-Eta as anti-cancer therapy

SupervisorMarco De Vivo

The research project, funded by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, is focused on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities to block Polymerase-Eta activity, which is a promising drug discovery target to treat cancer.

 

Stefano Pezzini

Stefano Pezzini

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Santi Mario Spampinato.

PhD Project: The role of Eph/ephrin system in glioblastoma and apoptosis

Giovanna Picone

Giovanna Picone

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Prof. Stefano Iotti

PhD Thesis: Study of bone biomineralization in 2D and 3D cultures of a human osteosarcoma cell line as osteoblast-like model

Alessandro Reggiani

Alessandro Reggiani

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Giorgio Gallinella

PhD Project: Reverse Genetics approaches for the study of Parvovirus B19

The PhD project is focused on the production and analysis of modified genomic clones of Parvovirus B19 to study the viral NS protein, an interesting target for antiviral drugs.

Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology at the University of Parma in 2015, then Master Degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Bologna in 2018.

Serena Stamatakos

Serena Stamatakos

Cycle 34th

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Patrizia Romualdi

PhD Project" Involvement of BDNF pathway and epigenetic modifications in the effects induced by MDMA (ecstasy): neuropsychiatric correlates"

Greta Bagnolini

Greta Bagnolini

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof. Andrea Cavalli

Co-supervisor: Prof.ssa Marinella Roberti

PhD Thesis: Design and synthesis of BRCA2-RAD51 disruptors to induce synthetic lethality in cancer treatment

Andrea Balboni

Cycle 33rd

Filippo Basagni

Filippo Basagni

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Michela Rosini.

PhD Project: Design and synthesis of small molecules to study-amyloid-mediated pathogenetic network in Alzheimer disease.

Graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies at University of Bologna with 110 cum laude with a thesis based on the synthesis on novel multitarget drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer disease. He spent a research period at King’s College London in  Prof. Gee’s group working on the development of a new PET radiotracer labelled with 18F before starting his PhD in November 2017. His interests focus on synthesis of pharmacologic tools to investigate the mechanistic connection between the process of protein aggregation and neuroinflammation that characterizes Alzheimer disease.

Jessica Caciolla

Jessica Caciolla

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor:  Prof.ssa Silvia Gobbi

PhD Project: Design and synthesis of dual aromatase inhibitors and SERMs as potential agents targeting breast cancer. Starting from the structures of tamoxifen and of a molecule (present in literature) that is a good inhibitor of aromatase and has good affinity for ERs (Estrogen receptors), we are designing and synthesizing different series of molecules which present structural changes. The aim of this project is identifying new dual agents.

Federica D’Amico

Federica D’Amico

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Patrizia Brigidi

PhD Project: Gut microbiota dynamics during the treatment with anticancer immunotherapy

Graduated cum laude in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Bologna; experimental thesis “Immunomodulatory and DNA damaging properties of the Salmonella typhoid toxin in in vivo and in vitro infection models” carried out at the Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm). The PhD research project is mainly focused on the study of the gut microbiota trajectory during the treatment with anticancer therapy in patients affected by different types of cancer (e.g. ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, leukemia).

Agnese Graziosi

Agnese Graziosi

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Patrizia Hrelia

PhD Project: Identification of new preventive and therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Degree in Pharmacy with laude. Her PhD research project is focused on the study of Alzheimer's disease and on new therapeutic strategies against this pathology. In particular, she investigates the role of compounds against neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease models.

 

ANNA VITA LAROCCA

Cycle 33rd

Mariacaterina Lianza

Mariacaterina Lianza

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Ferruccio Poli

PhD Project: Metabolomic approach to plant-based drug discovery

Irene Liparulo

Irene Liparulo

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Romana Fato

PhD thesis: In vitro study of metabolic modifications induced by CoQ10 depletion

Graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies in 2017 at the University of Bologna. Her PhD research project mainly focuses on CoQ10 (ubiquinone) function in cell metabolism. She investigates some steps of CoQ10 biosynthesis, trying to understand the molecular and pathological bases underlying the complex scenario behind primary CoQ10 deficiency.

Roberta Mazzucato

Roberta Mazzucato

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof. Marinella Roberti

External supervisor: Dr. Fabio Rancati (Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.)

PhD Thesis: Design and synthesis of kinase inhibitors for the treatment of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.

 

Laura Rullo

Laura Rullo

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Patrizia Romualdi

PhD Thesis"Role of epigenetic mechanisms and 26 S Proteasome in the development and management of Chronic Pa

Teresa Tavella

Teresa Tavella

Cycle 33rd

Supervisor: Prof. Pier Luigi Martelli/Prof.ssa Patrizia Brigidi

PhD Project: "Computational analysis of mechanisms responsible for antibiotic resistance and xenobiotics metabolism in bacteria"

Sebastian Franco Ulloa

Sebastian Franco Ulloa

Cycle 33rd 

Supervisor: Marco De Vivo

PhD Project: Multiscale Simulations to Investigate Nanoparticle Internalization and Transport across the Cellular Membrane

SERENA VALENTINI

Cycle 33rd